. . WOMEN’S EQUALITY . .
An article from Press TV
Tens of thousands of women have held a general strike as well as protests across the Israeli-occupied territories to voice their anger at the Tel Aviv regime’s failure to stem a sharp increase in violence against women.
On Tuesday, protesters staged separate rallies in several cities, calling on Israeli authorities to take action to stop the killings of females during domestic violence-related incidents.
A general view of protest against violence against women in Tel Aviv, Israeli-occupied territories, December 4, 2018 (By AP)
Dressed mainly in black with red hats, and carrying red balloons and torches, some 30,000 demonstrators gathered in central Tel Aviv to urge the Israeli administration to address the issue.
“Today we made history,” the protest’s organizers told the crowd. “Today the silence on the violence against women has turned to screams.”
Some 200 pairs of women’s shoes, painted red, were also placed on display on Habima Square in central Tel Aviv in a sign of protest.
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Protecting women and girls against violence, Is progress being made?
How effective are mass protest marches?
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In occupied Jerusalem al-Quds, demonstrators chanted for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “wake up,” carrying signs that read, “Women’s blood is not cheap” and “We are killed and the government is silent.”
Some women blocked the entrance to the city, holding signs stating, “Enough with the murder of females.”
Organizers of the protests demanded that a budget of nearly a $70 million be allocated to combating violence against women.
The strike was called last week in the wake of the recent murders of two teen girls, whose deaths brought the number of women, who were killed over the past year in domestic violence-related incidents to 24, the highest in years.
Over 300 institutions, municipalities, schools, and groups joined the strike and the protesters observed a moment of silence to mark the deaths.
A day earlier, activists poured red dye in public fountains in several cities to draw attention to the protest.
Shortly after the end of the rally, Netanyahu’s office announced that the prime minister would convene a meeting of the ministerial committee on violence against women on Wednesday morning.
On Monday, the opposition’s Zionist Union brought a no-confidence motion, denouncing the regime’s failure to curb such violence.
(Thank you to Janet Hudgins, the CPNN reporter for this article.)